157-592: Timeline Italian fascism ( Italian : fascismo italiano ), also classical fascism and Fascism , is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian Fascism is associated with a series of political parties led by Mussolini: the National Fascist Party (PNF), which governed the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, and
314-679: A Third Rome , identifying ancient Rome as the First Rome and Renaissance-era Italy as the Second Rome. Italian fascism has emulated ancient Rome and Mussolini in particular emulated ancient Roman leaders, such as Julius Caesar as a model for the fascists' rise to power and Augustus as a model for empire-building. Italian fascism has directly promoted imperialism , such as within the Doctrine of Fascism (1932), ghostwritten by Giovanni Gentile on behalf of Mussolini: The Fascist state
471-456: A " Jewish Question " and that "Italy knows no antisemitism and we believe that it will never know it" and then elaborated "let us hope that Italian Jews will continue to be sensible enough so as not to give rise to antisemitism in the only country where it has never existed". In 1932 during a conversation with Emil Ludwig , Mussolini described antisemitism as a "German vice" and stated: "There was 'no Jewish Question' in Italy and could not be one in
628-568: A "loss" of Tunisia from Italian plans to incorporate it. Upon entering World War II, Italy declared its intention to seize Tunisia as well as the province of Constantine of Algeria from France. To the south, the fascist regime held an interest in expanding Italy's African colonial possessions. In the 1920s, Italy regarded Portugal as a weak country that was unbecoming of a colonial power due to its weak hold on its colonies and mismanagement of them and as such Italy desired to annexe Portugal's colonies. Italy's relations with Portugal were influenced by
785-526: A Constitution, which influenced the development of a similar movement in Italy. Inspired by the Spaniards, a regiment in the army of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies , commanded by Guglielmo Pepe , a Carbonaro (member of the secret republican organization), mutinied, conquering the peninsular part of Two Sicilies. The king, Ferdinand I , agreed to enact a new constitution. The revolutionaries, although, failed to court popular support and fell to Austrian troops of
942-574: A Piedmontese priest, had suggested a confederation of Italian states under the leadership of the pope in his 1842 book Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians . Pope Pius IX at first appeared interested but he turned reactionary and led the battle against liberalism and nationalism. Giuseppe Mazzini and Carlo Cattaneo wanted the unification of Italy under a federal republic , which proved too extreme for most nationalists. The middle position
1099-542: A clear sense of a shared past among the Italian people , alongside a commitment to a modernised Italy. Originally, many Italian fascists were opposed to Nazism , as fascism in Italy did not espouse Nordicism nor, initially, the antisemitism inherent in Nazi ideology ; however, many fascists, in particular Mussolini himself, held racist ideas (specifically anti-Slavism ) that were enshrined into law as official policy over
1256-746: A constitution to the Papal States, which was both unexpected and surprising considering the historical recalcitrance of the Papacy. On 23 February 1848, King Louis Philippe of France was forced to flee Paris , and the Second French Republic was proclaimed. By the time the revolution in Paris occurred, three states of Italy had constitutions—four if one considers Sicily to be a separate state. Meanwhile, in Lombardy, tensions increased until
1413-469: A country with a healthy system of government". On several occasions, Mussolini spoke positively about Jews and the Zionist movement . Mussolini had initially rejected Nazi racism, especially the idea of a master race , as "arrant nonsense, stupid and idiotic". In 1929, Mussolini acknowledged the contributions of Italian Jews to Italian society, despite their minority status, and believed that Jewish culture
1570-627: A fascist. He was fired from his newspaper and put under 24-hour surveillance, but otherwise not harassed; his employment contract was settled for a lump sum and he was allowed to work for the foreign press. Knickerbocker contrasted his treatment with the inevitable torture and execution under Stalin or Hitler, and stated "you have a fair idea of the comparative mildness of the Italian kind of totalitarianism". However, since World War II historians have noted that in Italy's colonies Italian fascism displayed extreme levels of violence. The deaths of one-tenth of
1727-428: A government model. At the same time, Mussolini and many of his revolutionary syndicalist adherents gravitated towards a form of revolutionary nationalism in an effort to "identify the 'communality' of man not with class, but with the nation". According to A. James Gregor , Mussolini came to believe that "Fascism was the only form of 'socialism' appropriate to the proletarian nations of the twentieth century" while he
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#17327726695661884-598: A movement that closely resembled Freemasonry but with a commitment to Italian nationalism and no association with Napoleon and his government. The response came from middle-class professionals and businessmen and some intellectuals. The Carbonari disowned Napoleon but nevertheless were inspired by the principles of the French Revolution regarding liberty, equality and fraternity. They developed their own rituals and were strongly anticlerical. The Carbonari movement spread across Italy. Conservative governments feared
2041-476: A need for families to be dependent on a dual-income. The most evident policy to lessen female participation in the workplace was a program to encourage large families , where parents were given subsidies for a second child, and proportionally increased subsidies for a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth child. Italian fascism called for women to be honoured as "reproducers of the nation" and the Italian fascist government held ritual ceremonies to honour women's role within
2198-435: A new kind of citizen – politically active fascist Italians. The Doctrine of Fascism (1932) described the nature of Italian fascism's totalitarianism, stating the following: Fascism is for the only liberty which can be a serious thing, the liberty of the state and of the individual in the state. Therefore for the fascist, everything is in the state, and no human or spiritual thing exists, or has any sort of value, outside
2355-534: A new political society called La Giovine Italia (Young Italy) , whose mottos were " Dio e Popolo " ('God and People') and " Unione, Forza e Libertà " ('Union, Strength and Freedom"), which sought the unification of Italy. Garibaldi, a native of Nice (then part of Piedmont ), participated in an uprising in Piedmont in 1834 and was sentenced to death. He escaped to South America, although, spending fourteen years in exile, taking part in several wars, and learning
2512-422: A one-party fascist system than under the multi-party liberal democratic government of 1920. As the leader of the National Fascist Party (PNF, Partito Nazionale Fascista ), Mussolini said that democracy is "beautiful in theory; in practice, it is a fallacy" and spoke of celebrating the burial of the "putrid corpse of liberty". In 1923, to give Deputy Mussolini control of the pluralist parliamentary government of
2669-524: A political leader who would unite Italy "to free her from the barbarians ". The Italian Wars saw 65 years of French attacks on some of the Italian states, starting with Charles VIII's invasion of Naples in 1494. However, the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559) saw parts of Italy fall under the direct or indirect control of the Spanish Habsburgs . The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 formally ended
2826-826: A political rally held in the Apollo Theater, a young Roman priest, the Abbé Carlo Arduini , had made a speech in which he had declared that the Temporal power of the Holy See was a "historical lie, a political imposture, and a religious immorality". In early March 1849, Giuseppe Mazzini arrived in Rome and was appointed Chief Minister. In the Constitution of the Roman Republic, religious freedom
2983-404: A reformer, but conflicts with the revolutionaries soured him on the idea of constitutional government. In November 1848, following the assassination of his Minister Pellegrino Rossi , Pius IX fled just before Giuseppe Garibaldi and other patriots arrived in Rome. In early 1849, elections were held for a Constituent Assembly, which proclaimed a Roman Republic on 9 February. On 2 February 1849, at
3140-464: A sense of historical continuity and legitimacy. The fascists publicly identified King Victor Emmanuel II , the first King of a reunited Italy who had initiated the Risorgimento , along with other historic Italian figures such as Gaius Marius , Julius Caesar, Giuseppe Mazzini, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , Giuseppe Garibaldi and others, for being within a tradition of dictatorship in Italy that
3297-554: A series of client republics were set up. In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Roman-German Emperor , Francis II , after its defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz . French rule destroyed the old structures of feudalism in Italy and introduced modern ideas and efficient legal authority; it provided much of the intellectual force and social capital that fueled unification movements for decades after
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#17327726695663454-408: A short fight, the whole band was taken prisoner and escorted to Cosenza, where a number of Calabrians who had taken part in a previous rising were also under arrest. The Bandiera brothers and their nine companions were executed by firing squad; some accounts state they cried " Viva l'Italia! " ('Long live Italy!') as they fell. The moral effect was enormous throughout Italy, the action of the authorities
3611-407: A sort of a civil religion or political religion . La dottrina del fascismo states that fascism is a "religious conception of life" and forms a "spiritual community" in contrast to bourgeois materialism. The slogan Credere Obbedire Combattere ("Believe, Obey, Fight") reflects the importance of political faith in fascism. According to historian Zeev Sternhell, "most syndicalist leaders were among
3768-637: A total population of 1.3 million Slovenes being subjected to forced Italianization . The fascist regime imposed mandatory Italianization upon the German and South Slavic populations living within Italy's borders. The fascist regime abolished the teaching of minority German and Slavic languages in schools, German and Slavic language newspapers were shut down and geographical and family names in areas of German or Slavic languages were to be Italianized. This resulted in significant violence against South Slavs deemed to be resisting Italianization. The fascist regime supported
3925-559: A willingness to give the French whatever they wanted in return for essential military intervention. As a result of this France received Nice and Savoy in 1860. Secondly, the patriots realized that the pope was an enemy, and could never be the leader of a united Italy. Thirdly, they realized that republicanism was too weak a force. Unification had to be based on a strong monarchy, and in practice that meant reliance on Piedmont (the Kingdom of Sardinia ) under King Victor Emmanuel II (1820–1878) of
4082-461: Is a part of Italy". The fascists quoted Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi who said: "Corsica and Nice must not belong to France; there will come the day when an Italy mindful of its true worth will reclaim its provinces now so shamefully languishing under foreign domination". Mussolini initially pursued promoting annexation of Corsica through political and diplomatic means, believing that Corsica could be annexed to Italy through first encouraging
4239-458: Is a will to power and empire. The Roman tradition is here a powerful force. According to the Doctrine of Fascism, an empire is not only a territorial or military or mercantile concept, but a spiritual and moral one. One can think of an empire, that is, a nation, which directly or indirectly guides other nations, without the need to conquer a single square kilometre of territory. Fascism emphasized
4396-479: Is socialist, but because it has opposed nationalism". Moreover, for campaign financing in the 1920–1921 period the National fascist Party also courted the industrialists and (historically feudal) landowners by appealing to their fears of left-wing socialist and Bolshevik labor politics and urban and rural strikes. The fascists promised a good business climate of cost-effective labor, wage and political stability; and
4553-599: Is the view presented at the Central Museum of the Risorgimento at Altare della Patria in Rome. Italy was unified by the Roman Republic in the latter part of the third century BC. For 700 years, it was a de facto territorial extension of the capital of the Roman Republic and Empire , and for a long time experienced a privileged status but was not converted into a province . Under Augustus ,
4710-639: The Associazione fra gli Arditi d'Italia , which by mid-1919 had about twenty thousand young men within it. Mussolini appealed to the Arditi and the Fascists' squadristi , developed after the war, were based upon the Arditi . World War I inflated Italy's economy with great debts, unemployment (aggravated by thousands of demobilised soldiers), social discontent featuring strikes, organised crime and anarchist , socialist and communist insurrections. When
4867-627: The Communist Party of Italy 's class conflict should they assume government as had Vladimir Lenin 's Bolsheviks in the recent Russian Revolution of 1917, although Mussolini had originally praised Lenin's October Revolution and publicly referred to himself in 1919 as "Lenin of Italy". Timeline of Italian history Timeline This is a timeline of Italian history , comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Italy and its predecessor states, including Ancient Rome and Prehistoric Italy . Date of
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5024-810: The First French Empire collapsed in 1814. The French Republic spread republican principles, and the institutions of republican governments promoted citizenship over the rule of the Bourbons and Habsburgs and other dynasties. The reaction against any outside control challenged Napoleon Bonaparte 's choice of rulers. As Napoleon's reign began to fail, the rulers he had installed tried to keep their thrones (among them Eugène de Beauharnais , Viceroy of Italy , and Joachim Murat , King of Naples ) further feeding nationalistic sentiments. Beauharnais tried to get Austrian approval for his succession to Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, and on 30 March 1815, Murat issued
5181-516: The Frankish Empire , the title of King of Italy merged with the office of Holy Roman Emperor ; however, the emperor was an absentee German -speaking foreigner who had little interest in governing Italy and indeed never controlled the entire peninsula. As a result, Italy gradually developed into a system of city-states . Southern Italy was governed by the long-lasting Kingdom of Sicily or Kingdom of Naples , which had been established by
5338-614: The Holy Alliance . Di Santarosa's troops were defeated, and the would-be Piedmontese revolutionary fled to Paris . In Milan , Silvio Pellico and Pietro Maroncelli organized several attempts to weaken the hold of the Austrian despotism by indirect educational means. In October 1820, Pellico and Maroncelli were arrested on the charge of carbonarism and imprisoned. Denis Mack Smith argues: Few people in 1830 believed that an Italian nation might exist. There were eight states in
5495-569: The Holy Alliance . Ferdinand abolished the constitution and began systematically persecuting known revolutionaries. Many supporters of revolution in Sicily , including the scholar Michele Amari , were forced into exile during the decades that followed. The leader of the 1821 revolutionary movement in Piedmont was Santorre di Santarosa , who wanted to remove the Austrians and unify Italy under
5652-646: The Holy See , a concordat between Italy and the Catholic Church that allowed for the creation of a small enclave known as Vatican City as a sovereign state representing the papacy . This ended years of perceived alienation between the Church and the Italian government after Italy annexed the Papal States in 1870. Italian fascism justified its adoption of antisemitic laws in 1938 by claiming that Italy
5809-559: The House of Savoy . Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (1810–1861) provided critical leadership. He was a modernizer interested in agrarian improvements, banks, railways and free trade. He opened a newspaper as soon as censorship allowed it: Il Risorgimento called for the independence of Italy, a league of Italian princes, and moderate reforms. He had the ear of the king and in 1852 became prime minister. He ran an efficient active government, promoting rapid economic modernization while upgrading
5966-551: The House of Savoy . The Piedmont revolt started in Alessandria , where troops adopted the green, white, and red tricolore of the Cisalpine Republic . King Victor Emmanuel I abdicated in response, and the regent for the new king, Prince Charles Albert , approved a new constitution to appease the revolutionaries, but when King Charles Felix returned he disavowed the constitution and requested assistance from
6123-722: The Italian Peninsula to gradually transform it into an Italian land. The fascist regime claimed the Ionian Islands as Italian territory on the basis that the islands had belonged to the Venetian Republic from the mid-14th until the late 18th century. To the west of Italy, the fascists claimed that the territories of Corsica , Nice and Savoy held by France were Italian lands. During the period of Italian unification in 1860 to 1861, Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia , Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , who
6280-620: The Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946) being a full-partner Allied Power against the Central Powers , Italian nationalism claimed Italy was cheated in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919), thus the Allies had impeded Italy's progress to becoming a "Great Power". Thenceforth, the PNF successfully exploited that "slight" to Italian nationalism in presenting fascism as best-suited for governing
6437-618: The Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946), an economist, the Baron Giacomo Acerbo , proposed—and the Italian Parliament approved—the Acerbo Law , changing the electoral system from proportional representation to majority representation. The party who received the most votes (provided they possessed at least 25 percent of cast votes) won two-thirds of the parliament; the remaining third was proportionately shared among
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6594-554: The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies . His small force landed on the island of Ponza . It overpowered guards and liberated hundreds of prisoners. In sharp contrast to his hypothetical expectations, there was no local uprising and the invaders were quickly overpowered. Pisacane was killed by angry locals who suspected he was leading a Romani band trying to steal their food. The Second War of Italian Independence began in April 1859 when
6751-604: The Republic of San Marco was proclaimed under Daniele Manin . While Radetzky consolidated control of Lombardy–Venetia and Charles Albert licked his wounds, matters took a more serious turn in other parts of Italy. The monarchs who had reluctantly agreed to constitutions in March came into conflict with their constitutional ministers. At first, the republics had the upper hand, forcing the monarchs to flee their capitals, including Pope Pius IX. Initially, Pius IX had been something of
6908-567: The Republican Fascist Party (PFR), which governed the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945. Italian fascism also is associated with the post–war Italian Social Movement (MSI) and later Italian neo-fascist political organisations. Italian fascism originated from ideological combinations of ultranationalism and Italian nationalism , national syndicalism and revolutionary nationalism , and from
7065-706: The Rimini Proclamation , which called on Italians to revolt against their Austrian occupiers. During the Napoleonic era , in 1797, the first official adoption of the Italian tricolour as a national flag by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic , a Napoleonic sister republic of Revolutionary France , took place, on the basis of the events following the French Revolution (1789–1799) which, among its ideals, advocated
7222-464: The Treaty of Rapallo (1920), the metropolitan Italian military deposed the Regency of Duce D'Annunzio on Christmas 1920. In the development of the fascist model of government, D'Annunzio was a nationalist and not a fascist, whose legacy of political– praxis ("Politics as Theatre") was stylistic (ceremony, uniform, harangue and chanting) and not substantive, which Italian Fascism artfully developed as
7379-477: The actualist philosopher Giovanni Gentile is the official formulation of Italian fascism, published under Benito Mussolini's name in 1933. Gentile was intellectually influenced by Hegel , Plato , Benedetto Croce and Giambattista Vico , thus his actual idealism philosophy was the basis for fascism. Hence, the Doctrine ' s Weltanschauung proposes the world as action in the realm of humanity – beyond
7536-518: The anniversary of the unification on 17 March (the date of proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy ). Some of the states that had been envisaged as part of the unification process ( terre irredente ) did not join the Kingdom until after Italy defeated Austria-Hungary in World War I , culminating in the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920. Some historians see the Risorgimento as continuing to that time, which
7693-551: The capture of Rome and its designation as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Individuals who played a major part in the struggle for unification and liberation from foreign domination included King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy , Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , Giuseppe Garibaldi , and Giuseppe Mazzini . Borrowing from the old Latin title Pater Patriae of the Roman emperors , the Italians gave to King Victor Emmanuel II
7850-608: The " Manifesto of Race ", the seventh point of which stated that "it is time that Italians proclaim themselves to be openly racist", although Mussolini said that the Manifesto was endorsed "entirely for political reasons", in deference to Nazi German wishes. The "Manifesto of Race", which was published on 14 July 1938, paved the way for the enactment of the Racial Laws . Leading members of the National Fascist Party (PNF), such as Dino Grandi and Italo Balbo , reportedly opposed
8007-515: The "proletarian nations that rise up against the plutocrats". Given Italian fascism's pragmatic political amalgamations of left-wing and right-wing socio-economic policies, discontented workers and peasants proved an abundant source of popular political power, especially because of peasant opposition to socialist agricultural collectivism. Thus armed, the former socialist Benito Mussolini oratorically inspired and mobilized country and working-class people: "We declare war on socialism, not because it
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#17327726695668164-663: The Austrian troops. Menotti was executed, and the idea of a revolution centred in Modena faded. At the same time, other insurrections arose in the Papal Legations of Bologna , Ferrara , Ravenna , Forlì , Ancona and Perugia . These successful revolutions, which adopted the tricolore in place of the Papal flag , quickly spread to cover all the Papal Legations, and their newly installed local governments proclaimed
8321-547: The Austrians besieged Venice, which was defended by a volunteer army led by Daniele Manin and Guglielmo Pepe , who were forced to surrender on 24 August. Pro-independence fighters were hanged en masse in Belfiore , while the Austrians moved to restore order in central Italy, restoring the princes who had been expelled and re-establishing Papal control over the Legations. The revolutions were thus completely crushed. Morale
8478-528: The Austrians ten days later. There remained the Roman and Venetian Republics. In April, a French force under Charles Oudinot was sent to Rome. Apparently, the French first wished to mediate between the pope and his subjects, but soon the French were determined to restore the pope. After a two-month siege, Rome capitulated on 29 June 1849 and the pope was restored. Garibaldi and Mazzini once again fled into exile—in 1850 Garibaldi went to New York City . Meanwhile,
8635-518: The Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with its 8 million inhabitants, seemed aloof and indifferent: Sicily and Naples had once been ruled by Spain, and it had always been foreign to the rest of Italy. The common people in each region, and even the intellectual elite, spoke their mutually unintelligible dialects, and lacked the least vestiges of national consciousness. They wanted good government, not self-government, and had welcomed Napoleon and
8792-571: The Carbonari, imposing stiff penalties on men discovered to be members. Nevertheless, the movement survived and continued to be a source of political turmoil in Italy from 1820 until after unification. The Carbonari condemned Napoleon III (who, as a young man, had fought on their side) to death for failing to unite Italy, and the group almost succeeded in assassinating him in 1858, when Felice Orsini , Giovanni Andrea Pieri , Carlo Di Rudio and Andrea Gomez threw three bombs at him. Many leaders of
8949-467: The Catholic Church was mixed, as originally the fascists were highly anti-clerical and hostile to Catholicism, though from the mid to late 1920s anti-clericalism lost ground in the movement as Mussolini in power sought to seek accord with the Church as the Church held major influence in Italian society with most Italians being Catholic. In 1929, the Italian government signed the Lateran Treaty with
9106-520: The Church where "several priests were assassinated and churches burned by the fascists". Italy's use of daredevil elite shock troops , known as the Arditi , beginning in 1917, was an important influence on fascism. The Arditi were soldiers who were specifically trained for a life of violence and wore unique blackshirt uniforms and fezzes . The Arditi formed a national organization in November 1918,
9263-586: The French Napoleon . The philosopher–intellectual Gentile was especially inspired by the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 476, 1453), from whence derives fascism: The Fascist accepts and loves life; he rejects and despises suicide as cowardly. Life as he understands it means duty, elevation, conquest; life must be lofty and full, it must be lived for oneself but above all for others, both near by and far off, present and future. In 1925, Mussolini assumed
9420-566: The French as more equitable and efficient than their native dynasties, many of which had died out in the 18th century. After 1830, revolutionary sentiment in favour of a unified Italy began to experience a resurgence, and a series of insurrections laid the groundwork for the creation of one nation along the Italian peninsula. The Duke of Modena , Francis IV , was an ambitious man, and he hoped to become king of northern Italy by increasing his territory. In 1826, Francis made it clear that he would not act against those who subverted opposition toward
9577-483: The Grand Fascist Council: "We shall bring our border to the Gotthard Pass ". The fascist regime accused the Swiss government of oppressing the Romansch people in Graubünden. Mussolini argued that Romansch was an Italian dialect and thus Graubünden should be incorporated into Italy. Ticino was also claimed because the region had belonged to the Duchy of Milan from the mid-fourteenth century until 1515, as well as being inhabited by Italian speakers of Italian ethnicity. Claim
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#17327726695669734-419: The Greeks in Dodecanese and Northern Epirus , which were then under Italian occupation and influence, were persecuted. Italian fascism is based upon Italian nationalism and in particular seeks to complete what it considers as the incomplete project of Risorgimento by incorporating Italia Irredenta (unredeemed Italy) into the state of Italy. The National Fascist Party (PNF) founded in 1921 declared that
9891-463: The Italian nation. In 1934, Mussolini declared that employment of women was a "major aspect of the thorny problem of unemployment" and that for women working was "incompatible with childbearing". Mussolini went on to say that the solution to unemployment for men was the "exodus of women from the work force". Although the initial Fascist Manifesto contained a reference to universal suffrage, this broad opposition to feminism meant that when it granted women
10048-451: The Italian people along with a commitment to a modernized Italy. In a famous speech in 1926, Mussolini called for fascist art that was "traditionalist and at the same time modern, that looks to the past and at the same time to the future". Traditional symbols of Roman civilization were utilized by the fascists, particularly the fasces that symbolized unity, authority and the exercise of power. Other traditional symbols of ancient Rome used by
10205-431: The King in 1943, with the Kingdom of Italy's new non-fascist government switching sides from the Axis to the Allies, Italian fascism returned to republicanism and condemnation of the monarchy. On 18 September 1943, Mussolini made his first public address to the Italian people since his rescue from arrest by allied German forces, in which he commended the loyalty of Hitler as an ally while condemning King Victor Emmanuel III of
10362-462: The King of Sardinia (who ruled Piedmont and Savoy ), urged by the Venetians and Milanese to aid their cause, decided this was the moment to unify Italy and declared war on Austria ( First Italian Independence War ). After initial successes at Goito and Peschiera , he was decisively defeated by Radetzky at the Battle of Custoza on 24 July. An armistice was agreed to, and Radetzky regained control of all of Lombardy–Venetia save Venice itself, where
10519-407: The Kingdom of Italy for betraying Italian fascism. On the topic of the monarchy removing him from power and dismantling the fascist regime, Mussolini stated: "It is not the regime that has betrayed the monarchy, it is the monarchy that has betrayed the regime" and that "When a monarchy fails in its duties, it loses every reason for being. ... The state we want to establish will be national and social in
10676-453: The Milanese and Venetians rose in revolt on 18 March 1848. The insurrection in Milan succeeded in expelling the Austrian garrison after five days of street fights—18–22 March ( Cinque giornate di Milano ). An Austrian army under Marshal Josef Radetzky besieged Milan, but due to the defection of many of his troops and the support of the Milanese for the revolt, they were forced to retreat to the Quadrilatero fortresses. Soon, Charles Albert ,
10833-401: The Napoleonic Italian Republic (1802–1805) and consistent supporter of the Italian unification ideals that would lead to the Italian Risorgimento shortly after his death. Meanwhile, artistic and literary sentiment also turned towards nationalism; Vittorio Alfieri , Francesco Lomonaco and Niccolò Tommaseo are generally considered three great literary precursors of Italian nationalism , but
10990-467: The Normans. Central Italy was governed by the pope as a temporal kingdom known as the Papal States . This situation persisted through the Renaissance but began to deteriorate with the rise of modern nation-states in the early modern period . Italy, including the Papal States, then became the site of proxy wars between the major powers, notably the Holy Roman Empire (including Austria ), Spain , and France . Harbingers of national unity appeared in
11147-445: The Racial Laws. Balbo, in particular, regarded antisemitism as having nothing to do with fascism and staunchly opposed the antisemitic laws. After 1938, discrimination and persecution intensified and became an increasingly important hallmark of Italian Fascist ideology and policies . Nevertheless, Mussolini and the Italian military did not consistently apply the laws adopted in the Manifesto of Race. In 1943, Mussolini expressed regret for
11304-824: The Russian Revolution. Moreover, toward the end of 1920, fascism began to spread into the countryside, bidding for the support of large landowners, particularly in the area between Bologna and Ferrara, a traditional stronghold of the Left, and scene of frequent violence. Socialist and Catholic organizers of farm hands in that region, Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, and even distant Apulia, were soon attacked by Blackshirt squads of fascists, armed with castor oil, blackjacks, and more lethal weapons. The era of squadrismo and nightly expeditions to burn Socialist and Catholic labor headquarters had begun. During this time period, Mussolini's fascist squads also engaged in violent attacks against
11461-639: The Sardinian Prime Minister Count Cavour found an ally in Napoleon III . Napoleon III signed a secret alliance and Cavour provoked Austria with military maneuvers and eventually led to the war in April 1859. Cavour called for volunteers to enlist in the Italian liberation. The Austrians planned to use their army to beat the Sardinians before the French could come to their aid. Austria had an army of 140,000 men, while
11618-456: The Sardinians had a mere 70,000 men by comparison. However, the Austrians' numerical strength was outweighed by an ineffectual leadership appointed by the Emperor on the basis of noble lineage, rather than military competency. Their army was slow to enter Piedmont, taking almost ten days to travel the 80 kilometres (50 mi) to Turin . By this time, the French had reinforced the Sardinians, so
11775-458: The administration of the army and the financial and legal systems. He sought out support from patriots across Italy. In 1855, the kingdom became an ally of Britain and France in the Crimean War , which gave Cavour's diplomacy legitimacy in the eyes of the great powers. In 1857, Carlo Pisacane , an aristocrat from Naples who had embraced Mazzini's ideas, decided to provoke a rising in
11932-529: The agreement between Italy and the Entente Allies to have Dalmatia join Italy made in the 1915 Treaty of London was revoked. The fascist regime supported the annexation of Yugoslavia's region of Slovenia into Italy that already held a portion of the Slovene population, whereby Slovenia would become an Italian province, resulting in a quarter of Slovene ethnic territory and approximately 327,000 out of
12089-493: The annexation of Albania , claimed that Albanians were ethnically linked to Italians through links with the prehistoric Italiotes , Illyrian and Roman populations and that the major influence exerted by the Roman and Venetian empires over Albania justified Italy's right to possess it. The fascist regime also justified the annexation of Albania on the basis that — because several hundred thousand people of Albanian descent had been absorbed into society in southern Italy already —
12246-692: The art of guerrilla warfare before his return to Italy in 1848. Many of the key intellectual and political leaders operated from exile; most Risorgimento patriots lived and published their work abroad after successive failed revolutions. Exile became a central theme of the foundational legacy of the Risorgimento as the narrative of the Italian nation fighting for independence. The exiles were deeply immersed in European ideas, and often hammered away at what Europeans saw as Italian vices, especially effeminacy and indolence. These negative stereotypes emerged from Enlightenment notions of national character that stressed
12403-508: The author of the lyrics, or Fratelli d'Italia , from its opening line . On 5 January 1848, the revolutionary disturbances began with a civil disobedience strike in Lombardy , as citizens stopped smoking cigars and playing the lottery , which denied Austria the associated tax revenue. Shortly after this, revolts began on the island of Sicily and in Naples . In Sicily the revolt resulted in
12560-504: The average reign of a Roman Emperor was just 18 months, down from average just over 9 years during the first centuries of the Empire. Risorgimento Timeline The unification of Italy ( Italian : Unità d'Italia , Italian: [uniˈta ddiˈtaːlja] ), also known as the Risorgimento ( / r ɪ ˌ s ɔːr dʒ ɪ ˈ m ɛ n t oʊ / , Italian: [risordʒiˈmento] ; lit. ' Resurgence ' ),
12717-631: The canton of Valais in addition to the claims raised earlier. To the south, the regime claimed the archipelago of Malta , which had been held by the British since 1800. Mussolini claimed that the Maltese language was a dialect of Italian and theories about Malta being the cradle of the Latin civilization were promoted. Italian had been widely used in Malta in the literary, scientific and legal fields and it
12874-424: The classes . Italian fascism opposed liberalism , especially classical liberalism , which fascist leaders denounced as "the debacle of individualism". Fascism was opposed to socialism because of the latter's frequent opposition to nationalism, but it was also opposed to the reactionary conservatism developed by Joseph de Maistre . It believed the success of Italian nationalism required respect for tradition and
13031-404: The contemporary psychoanalysis, that it was a social disease. Fascist Italy pursued an aggressive campaign to reduce prostitution of young women. Mussolini perceived women's primary role to be childbearers while men were warriors, once saying that "war is to man what maternity is to the woman". In an effort to increase birthrates, the Italian fascist government initiated policies designed to reduce
13188-625: The country by successfully claiming that democracy, socialism and liberalism were failed systems. The PNF assumed Italian government in 1922, consequent to the fascist Leader Mussolini's oratory and Blackshirt paramilitary political violence. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Allies compelled the Kingdom of Italy to yield to Yugoslavia the Croatian seaport of Fiume ( Rijeka ), a mostly Italian city of little nationalist significance, until early 1919. Moreover, elsewhere Italy
13345-759: The countryside, had increased so dramatically that Mussolini was pressured to call a truce to bring about "reconciliation with the Socialists". Signed in early August 1921, Mussolini and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) agreed to the Pact of Pacification , which was immediately condemned by most ras leaders in the squadrismo . The peace pact was officially denounced during the Third Fascist Congress on 7–10 November 1921. The Liberal government preferred fascist class collaboration to
13502-488: The course of fascist rule. As Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany grew politically closer in the latter half of the 1930s, Italian laws and policies became explicitly antisemitic due to pressure from Nazi Germany (even though antisemitic laws were not commonly enforced in Italy), including the passage of the Italian racial laws . When the fascists were in power, they also persecuted some linguistic minorities in Italy. In addition,
13659-528: The creation of a united Italian nation. The revolts in Modena and the Papal Legations inspired similar activity in the Duchy of Parma , where the tricolore flag was adopted. The Parmese duchess Marie Louise left the city during the political upheaval. Insurrection provinces planned to unite as the Italian United Provinces , which prompted Pope Gregory XVI to ask for Austrian help against
13816-477: The efforts of the Italian people towards freedom and independence. The Italian tricolour waved for the first time in the history of the Risorgimento on 11 March 1821 in the Cittadella of Alessandria , during the revolutions of 1820s , after the oblivion caused by the restoration of the absolutist monarchical regimes. An important figure of this period was Francesco Melzi d'Eril , serving as vice-president of
13973-487: The elected Italian Liberal Party Government could not control Italy, the fascist leader Mussolini took matters in hand, combating those issues with the Blackshirts , paramilitary squads of First World War veterans and ex socialists when Prime Ministers such as Giovanni Giolitti allowed the fascists taking the law in hand. The violence between socialists and the mostly self-organized squadristi militias, especially in
14130-616: The endorsement, saying that it could've been avoided. After the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , the Italian Fascist government implemented strict racial segregation between white people and black people in Ethiopia. In 1925, the PNF declared that Italy's fascist state would be totalitarian . The term "totalitarian" had initially been used as a pejorative accusation by Italy's liberal opposition that denounced
14287-502: The epithet of Father of the Fatherland ( Italian : Padre della Patria ). Even after 1871, many ethnic Italian-speakers ( Trentino-Alto Adigan Italians, Savoyard Italians , Corfiot Italians , Niçard Italians , Swiss Italians , Corsican Italians , Maltese Italians , Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) remained outside the borders of the Kingdom of Italy, planting the seeds of Italian irredentism . Italy celebrates
14444-400: The exception of the condom ), homosexuality and prostitution as deviant sexual behaviour. Fascist Italy regarded the promotion of male sexual excitation before puberty as the cause of criminality amongst male youth. Fascist Italy reflected the belief of most Italians that homosexuality was wrong. Instead of the traditional Catholic teaching that it was a sin, a new approach was taken, based on
14601-670: The existing autonomist tendencies in Corsica and then the independence of Corsica from France, that would be followed by the annexation of Corsica into Italy. To the north of Italy, the fascist regime in the 1930s had designs on the largely Italian-populated region of Ticino and the Romansch -populated region of Graubünden in Switzerland (the Romansch are a people with a Latin-based language). In November 1938, Mussolini declared to
14758-464: The fasces on the flag was stopped by strong opposition to the proposal by Italian monarchists. Afterwards, the fascist government in public ceremonies rose the national tricolour flag along with a fascist black flag. Years later, and after Mussolini was forced from power by the King in 1943 only to be rescued by German forces, the Italian Social Republic founded by Mussolini and the fascists did incorporate
14915-468: The fasces on the state's war flag, which was a variant of the Italian tricolour national flag. The issue of the rule of monarchy or republic in Italy was an issue that changed several times through the development of Italian fascism, as initially Italian fascism was republican and denounced the Savoy monarchy. However, Mussolini tactically abandoned republicanism in 1922 and recognized that the acceptance of
15072-583: The fascist Party was en route to power. Historian Charles F. Delzell reports: "At first, the fascist Revolutionary Party was concentrated in Milan and a few other cities. They gained ground quite slowly, between 1919 and 1920; not until after the scare, brought about by the workers "occupation of the factories" in the late summer of 1920 did fascism become really widespread. The industrialists began to throw their financial support behind Mussolini after he renamed his party and retracted his former support for Lenin and
15229-468: The fascist movement for seeking to create a total dictatorship. However, the fascists responded by accepting that they were totalitarian, but presented totalitarianism from a positive viewpoint. Mussolini described totalitarianism as seeking to forge an authoritarian national state that would be capable of completing Risorgimento of the Italia Irredenta , forge a powerful modern Italy and create
15386-483: The fascists declared that they emulated. However, this compromise with the monarchy did not yield a cordial relationship between the King and Mussolini. Although Mussolini had formally accepted the monarchy, he pursued and largely achieved reducing the power of the King to that of a figurehead . The King initially held complete nominal legal authority over the military through the Statuto Albertino , but this
15543-404: The fascists included the she-wolf . The fasces and the she-wolf symbolized the shared Roman heritage of all the regions that constituted the Italian nation. In 1926, the fasces was adopted by the fascist government of Italy as a symbol of the state. In that year, the fascist government attempted to have the Italian national flag redesigned to incorporate the fasces on it. This attempt to incorporate
15700-513: The fledgling revolutionary movement. In 1844, two brothers from Venice , Attilio and Emilio Bandiera , members of Young Italy , planned to make a raid on the Calabrian coast against the Kingdom of Two Sicilies in support of Italian unification. They assembled a band of about twenty men ready to sacrifice their lives and set sail on their venture on 12 June 1844. Four days later they landed near Crotone , intending to go to Cosenza , liberate
15857-502: The founders of the fascist movement", who in later years gained key posts in Mussolini's regime. Mussolini expressed great admiration for the ideas of Georges Sorel , who he claimed was instrumental in birthing the core principles of Italian fascism. J. L. Talmon argued that fascism billed itself "not only as an alternative, but also as the heir to socialism". La dottrina del fascismo proposed an Italy of greater living standards under
16014-437: The highest sense of the word; that is, it will be fascist, thus returning to our origins". The fascists at this point did not denounce the House of Savoy in the entirety of its history and credited Victor Emmanuel II for his rejection of "scornfully dishonourable pacts" and denounced Victor Emmanuel III for betraying Victor Emmanuel II by entering a dishonourable pact with the Allies. The relationship between Italian fascism and
16171-522: The incorporation of Albania was a reasonable measure that would unite people of Albanian descent into one state. The fascist regime endorsed Albanian irredentism, directed against the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo and Epirus , particularly in Chameria inhabited by a substantial number of Albanians. After Italy annexed Albania in 1939, the fascist regime endorsed assimilating Albanians into Italians and colonizing Albania with Italian settlers from
16328-493: The influence of the environment and history on a people's moral predisposition. Italian exiles both challenged and embraced the stereotypes and typically presented gendered interpretations of Italy's political "degeneration". They called for a masculine response to feminine weaknesses as the basis of national regeneration and fashioned their image of the future Italian nation firmly in the standards of European nationalism. In 1820, liberal Spaniards successfully revolted , demanding
16485-582: The militarism of Italian irredentism to regain "lost overseas territories of Italy" deemed necessary to restore Italian nationalist pride. Italian Fascists also claimed that modern Italy was an heiress to the imperial legacy of Ancient Rome , and that there existed historical proof which supported the creation of an Imperial Fascist Italy to provide spazio vitale (vital space) for the Second Italo-Senussi War of Italian settler colonisation en route to establishing hegemonic control of
16642-479: The monarchy was a necessary compromise to gain the support of the establishment to challenge the liberal constitutional order that also supported the monarchy. King Victor Emmanuel III had become a popular ruler in the aftermath of Italy's gains after World War I and the army held close loyalty to the King, thus any idea of overthrowing the monarchy was discarded as foolhardy by the fascists at this point. Importantly, fascism's recognition of monarchy provided fascism with
16799-603: The monarchy's continued existence due to envy of the fact that his counterpart in Germany Adolf Hitler was both head of state and head of government of a republic; and Mussolini in private denounced the monarchy and indicated that he had plans to dismantle the monarchy and create a republic with himself as head of state of Italy upon an Italian success in the then-anticipated major war about to erupt in Europe. After being removed from office and placed under arrest by
16956-531: The most famous proto-nationalist work was Alessandro Manzoni 's I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) , widely read as thinly veiled allegorical criticism of Austrian rule. Published in 1827 and extensively revised in the following years, the 1840 version of I Promessi Sposi used a standardized version of the Tuscan dialect , a conscious effort by the author to provide a language and force people to learn it. Three ideals of unification appeared. Vincenzo Gioberti ,
17113-512: The most prominent being Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi . Mazzini's activity in revolutionary movements caused him to be imprisoned soon after he joined. While in prison, he concluded that Italy could − and therefore should − be unified, and he formulated a program for establishing a free, independent, and republican nation with Rome as its capital. Following his release in 1831, he went to Marseille in France, where he organized
17270-495: The nation's economic producers and work alongside the state to set national economic policy. Mussolini declared such economics as a " Third Alternative " to capitalism and Marxism that Italian fascism regarded as "obsolete doctrines". For instance, he said in 1935 that orthodox capitalism no longer existed in the country. Preliminary plans as of 1939 intended to divide the country into 22 corporations which would send representatives to Parliament from each industry. State permission
17427-637: The national self-determination . This event is celebrated by the Tricolour Day . The Italian national colours appeared for the first time on a tricolour cockade in 1789, anticipating by seven years the first green, white and red Italian military war flag , which was adopted by the Lombard Legion in 1796. After Napoleon fell (1814), the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments. Italy
17584-571: The national community as a whole. The Italian fascists' political anthem was called Giovinezza (Youth). Fascism identifies the physical age period of youth as a critical time for the moral development of people that will affect society. Italian fascism pursued what it called "moral hygiene" of youth, particularly regarding sexuality . Fascist Italy promoted what it considered normal sexual behaviour in youth while denouncing what it considered deviant sexual behaviour. It condemned pornography, most forms of birth control and contraceptive devices (with
17741-679: The need for the restoration of the Mazzinian Risorgimento tradition that followed the unification of Italy, that the fascists claimed had been left incomplete and abandoned in the Giolittian -era Italy. Fascism sought the incorporation of claimed "unredeemed" territories into Italy. To the east of Italy, the fascists claimed that Dalmatia was a land of Italian culture whose Italians ( Dalmatian Italians ), including those of Italianized South Slavic descent, had been driven out of Dalmatia and into exile in Italy, and supported
17898-573: The other parties, thus the fascist manipulation of liberal democratic law that rendered Italy a one-party state . In 1924, the PNF won the election with 65 percent of the votes, yet the United Socialist Party refused to accept such a defeat—especially Deputy Giacomo Matteotti , who on 30 May 1924 in Parliament formally accused the PNF of electoral fraud and reiterated his denunciations of PNF Blackshirt political violence and
18055-463: The party was to serve as "a revolutionary militia placed at the service of the nation. It follows a policy based on three principles: order, discipline, hierarchy". It identifies modern Italy as the heir to the Roman Empire and Italy during the Renaissance and promotes the cultural identity of Romanitas (Roman-ness). Italian fascism historically sought to forge a strong Italian Empire as
18212-530: The peninsula, each with distinct laws and traditions. No one had had the desire or the resources to revive Napoleon's partial experiment in unification. The settlement of 1814–15 had merely restored regional divisions, with the added disadvantage that the decisive victory of Austria over France temporarily hindered Italians in playing off their former oppressors against each other. ... Italians who, like Ugo Foscolo and Gabriele Rossetti , harboured patriotic sentiments, were driven into exile. The largest Italian state,
18369-558: The political prisoners, and issue their proclamations. Tragically for the Bandiera brothers, they did not find the insurgent band they were told awaited them, so they moved towards La Sila . They were ultimately betrayed by one of their party, the Corsican Pietro Boccheciampe, and by some peasants who believed them to be Turkish pirates. A detachment of gendarmes and volunteers were sent against them, and after
18526-476: The population of the Italian colony of Libya occurred during the fascist era, including from the use of gassings, concentration camps , starvation and disease; and in Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and afterwards by 1938 a quarter of a million Ethiopians had died. Italian fascism promoted a corporatist economic system. The economy involved employer and employee syndicates being linked together in corporative associations to collectively represent
18683-418: The prehistoric era are approximate. For further background, see history of Italy and list of prime ministers of Italy . Lucius Sicinius Vellutus , the plebs abandoned Rome for the nearby Monte Sacro . Marius was elected consul for the first of three years in a row. Civil wars would follow with the first breaking out in 238, another in 249 followed by a third in 253. From 235 through 284
18840-750: The previous differences in municipal and political rights were abolished and Roman Italy was subdivided into administrative regions ruled directly by the Roman Senate. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , Italy remained united under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and after 568 was disputed between the Kingdom of the Lombards and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire , losing its unity for centuries. Following conquest by
18997-726: The proclamation of the Kingdom of Sicily with Ruggero Settimo as chairman of the independent state until 1849, when the Bourbon army took back full control of the island on 15 May 1849 by force. In February 1848, there were revolts in Tuscany that were relatively nonviolent, after which Grand Duke Leopold II granted the Tuscans a constitution. A breakaway republican provisional government formed in Tuscany during February shortly after this concession. On 21 February, Pope Pius IX granted
19154-655: The quotidian constrictions of contemporary political trend, by rejecting "perpetual peace" as fantastical and accepting Man as a species continually at war; those who meet the challenge, achieve nobility . To wit, actual idealism generally accepted that conquerors were the men of historical consequence, e.g. the Roman Julius Caesar , the Greek Alexander the Great , the Frank Charlemagne and
19311-513: The rebels. Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich warned Louis-Philippe that Austria had no intention of letting Italian matters be and that French intervention would not be tolerated. Louis-Philippe sent a naval expedition to Ancona, which restored Papal authority there and even arrested Italian patriots living in France. In early 1831, the Austrian army began its march across the Italian peninsula, slowly crushing resistance in each province that had revolted. This military action suppressed much of
19468-630: The return of Italians of Dalmatian heritage. Mussolini identified Dalmatia as having strong Italian cultural roots for centuries via the Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice . The fascists especially focused their claims based on the Venetian cultural heritage of Dalmatia, claiming that Venetian rule had been beneficial for all Dalmatians and had been accepted by the Dalmatian population. The fascists were outraged when in 1919, after World War I,
19625-491: The right to vote in 1925 it was limited purely to voting in local elections, and only applied to a small section of the female population. Furthermore, this reform was quickly made redundant as local elections were abolished in 1926 as a part of the Exceptional Fascist Laws [ it ] . Italian fascism believed that the success of Italian nationalism required a clear sense of a shared past amongst
19782-415: The rise to power of the authoritarian conservative nationalist regime of Salazar, which borrowed fascist methods, though Salazar upheld Portugal's traditional alliance with Britain. Until Benito Mussolini 's alliance with Adolf Hitler , he had always denied any antisemitism within the National Fascist Party (PNF). In the early 1920s, Mussolini wrote an article which stated that Fascism would never elevate
19939-429: The risk of his crown —dismiss Mussolini as Italian Prime Minister as in the event he did. Gentile defined fascism as an anti-intellectual doctrine, epistemologically based on faith rather than reason. Fascist mysticism emphasized the importance of political myths , which were true not as empirical facts, but as "metareality". Fascist art, architecture and symbols constituted a process which converted Fascism into
20096-945: The rule of the Holy Roman Emperors in Italy. However, the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg , which ruled the Spanish Empire , continued to rule southern Italy and the Duchy of Milan until the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). Following this war the Austrian Habsburgs struggled for dominance with the Spanish Bourbons until the end of the War of the Austrian Succession . A sense of Italian national identity
20253-576: The same time, indigenous Libyans were given the ability to apply for "Special Italian Citizenship" which required such people to be literate in the Italian language and confined this type of citizenship to be valid in Libya only. Tunisia that had been taken by France as a protectorate in 1881 had the highest concentration of Italians in North Africa and its seizure by France had been viewed as an injury to national honour in Italy at what they perceived as
20410-587: The state. In this sense fascism is totalitarian, and the fascist state which is the synthesis and unity of every value, interprets, develops and strengthens the entire life of the people. American journalist H. R. Knickerbocker wrote in 1941: "Mussolini's Fascist state is the least terroristic of the three totalitarian states. The terror is so mild in comparison with the Soviet or Nazi varieties, that it almost fails to qualify as terroristic at all." As example he described an Italian journalist friend who refused to become
20567-491: The subject of race throughout his career. In an interview conducted in 1932 at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, he said "Race? It is a feeling, not a reality: ninety-five percent, at least, is a feeling. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races can be shown to exist today". By 1938, however, he began to actively support racist policies in the Italian Fascist regime, as evidenced by his endorsement of
20724-468: The terrestrial basin of the Mediterranean Sea . Italian fascism promoted a corporatist economic system , whereby employer and employee syndicates are linked together in associations to collectively represent the nation's economic producers and work alongside the state to set national economic policy. This economic system intended to resolve class conflict through collaboration between
20881-472: The title Duce (Leader), derived from the Latin dux (leader), a Roman Republic military-command title. Moreover, although Fascist Italy (1922–1943) is historically considered an authoritarian–totalitarian dictatorship, it retained the original "liberal democratic" government façade: the Grand Council of Fascism remained active as administrators; and King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy could—at
21038-643: The treaty of the Italic League , in 1454, and the 15th century foreign policy of Cosimo de' Medici and Lorenzo de' Medici . Leading Renaissance Italian writers Dante , Petrarch , Boccaccio , Machiavelli and Guicciardini expressed opposition to foreign domination. Petrarch stated that the "ancient valour in Italian hearts is not yet dead" in Italia Mia . Machiavelli later quoted four verses from Italia Mia in The Prince , which looked forward to
21195-404: The unification movement were at one time or other members of this organization. The chief purpose was to defeat tyranny and to establish constitutional government. Although contributing some service to the cause of Italian unity, historians such as Cornelia Shiver doubt that their achievements were proportional to their pretensions. Many leading Carbonari revolutionaries wanted a republic, two of
21352-890: The unification of Italy. Encouraged by the declaration, revolutionaries in the region began to organize. During the July Revolution of 1830 in France, revolutionaries forced King Charles X to abdicate and created the July Monarchy with encouragement from the new French king, Louis-Philippe I . Louis-Philippe had promised revolutionaries such as Ciro Menotti that he would intervene if Austria tried to interfere in Italy with troops. Fearing he would lose his throne, Louis-Philippe did not, however, intervene in Menotti's planned uprising. The Duke of Modena abandoned his Carbonari supporters, arrested Menotti and other conspirators in 1831, and once again conquered his duchy with help from
21509-456: The unification of Italy. The fascist regime produced literature on Corsica that presented evidence of the italianità (Italianness) of the island. The fascist regime produced literature on Nice that justified that Nice was an Italian land based on historic, ethnic and linguistic grounds. The fascists quoted Medieval Italian scholar Petrarch who said: "The border of Italy is the Var; consequently Nice
21666-463: The war with Austria. He was quickly defeated by Radetzky at Novara on 23 March 1849. Charles Albert abdicated in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel II , and Piedmontese ambitions to unite Italy or conquer Lombardy were, for the moment, brought to an end. The war ended with a treaty signed on 9 August. A popular revolt broke out in Brescia on the same day as the defeat at Novara, but was suppressed by
21823-498: Was Mediterranean, aligning with his early Mediterraneanist perspective . He also argued that Jews were natives to Italy, after living for a long period in the Italian Peninsula. Initially, Fascist Italy did not enact comprehensive racist policies like those policies which were enacted by its World War II Axis partner Nazi Germany . Italy's National Fascist Party leader, Benito Mussolini , expressed different views on
21980-485: Was again controlled largely by the Austrian Empire , as they directly controlled the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia and indirectly the duchies of Parma , Modena and Tuscany . With the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the absolutist monarchical regimes , the Italian tricolour went underground, becoming the symbol of the patriotic ferments that began to spread in Italy and the symbol which united all
22137-430: Was also raised on the basis that areas now part of Graubünden in the Mesolcina valley and Hinterrhein were held by the Milanese Trivulzio family, who ruled from the Mesocco Castle in the late 15th century. Also during the summer of 1940, Galeazzo Ciano met with Hitler and Ribbentrop and proposed to them the dissection of Switzerland along the central chain of the Western Alps , which would have left Italy also with
22294-474: Was declaring the establishment of the Italian Regency of Carnaro . To his independent Italian state, he installed himself as the Regent Duce and promulgated the Carta del Carnaro ( Charter of Carnaro , 8 September 1920), a politically syncretic constitutional amalgamation of right-wing and left-wing anarchist , proto-fascist and democratic republican politics, which much influenced the politico-philosophic development of early Italian fascism. Consequent to
22451-432: Was ended during the fascist regime when Mussolini created the position of First Marshal of the Empire in 1938, a two-person position of control over the military held by both the King and the head of government that had the effect of eliminating the King's previously exclusive legal authority over the military by giving Mussolini equal legal authority to the King over the military. In the 1930s, Mussolini became aggravated by
22608-445: Was freed under amnesty from King Victor Emmanuel III. Moreover, when the King supported Prime Minister Mussolini the socialists quit Parliament in protest, leaving the fascists to govern unopposed. In that time, assassination was not yet the modus operandi norm and the Italian fascist Duce usually disposed of opponents in the Imperial Roman way: political arrest punished with island banishment. After World War I (1914–1918), despite
22765-491: Was fulfilling the Christian religious mandate of the Catholic Church that had been initiated by Pope Innocent III in the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, whereby the Pope issued strict regulation of the life of Jews in Christian lands. Jews were prohibited from holding any public office that would give them power over Christians and Jews were required to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish them from Christians. The Doctrine of Fascism ( La dottrina del fascismo , 1932) by
22922-449: Was guaranteed by article 7, the independence of the pope as head of the Catholic Church was guaranteed by article 8 of the Principi fondamentali , while the death penalty was abolished by article 5, and free public education was provided by article 8 of the Titolo I . Before the powers could respond to the founding of the Roman Republic, Charles Albert, whose army had been trained by the exiled Polish general Albert Chrzanowski , renewed
23079-471: Was in the process of shifting his views from socialism to nationalism. Enrico Corradini , one of the early influences on Mussolini's thought and later a member of his administration, championed the concept of proletarian nationalism, writing about Italy in 1910: "We are the proletarian people in respect to the rest of the world. Nationalism is our socialism". Mussolini would come to use similar wording, for instance referring to fascist Italy during World War II as
23236-428: Was leading the unification effort, faced opposition from French Emperor Napoleon III who indicated that France would oppose Italian unification unless France was given Nice and Savoy that were held by Piedmont-Sardinia, as France did not want a powerful state having control of all the passages of the Alps. As a result, Piedmont-Sardinia was pressured to concede Nice and Savoy to France in exchange for France accepting
23393-428: Was of course badly weakened, but the dream of Risorgimento did not die. Instead, the Italian patriots learned some lessons that made them much more effective at the next opportunity in 1860. Military weakness was glaring, as the small Italian states were completely outmatched by France and Austria. France was a potential ally, and the patriots realized they had to focus all their attention on expelling Austria first, with
23550-665: Was one of Malta's official languages until 1937 when its status was abolished by the British as a response to Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. Italian irredentists had claimed that territories on the coast of North Africa were Italy's Fourth Shore and used the historical Roman rule in North Africa as a precedent to justify the incorporation of such territories to Italian jurisdiction as being a "return" of Italy to North Africa. In January 1939, Italy annexed territories in Libya that it considered within Italy's Fourth Shore, with Libya's four coastal provinces of Tripoli, Misurata, Benghazi and Derna becoming an integral part of metropolitan Italy. At
23707-413: Was proposed by Cesare Balbo (1789–1853) as a confederation of separate Italian states led by Piedmont . One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the Carbonari , a secret political discussion group formed in southern Italy early in the 19th century. After 1815, Freemasonry in Italy was repressed and discredited due to its French connections. A void was left that the Carbonari filled with
23864-424: Was publishing The Fascisti Exposed: A Year of Fascist Domination , a book substantiating his accusations. Consequently, on 10 June 1924, the Ceka (ostensibly a party secret police , modelled on the Soviet Cheka ) assassinated Matteotti and of the five men arrested, Amerigo Dumini , also known as Sicario del Duce (The Leader's Assassin), was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, but served only eleven months and
24021-401: Was reflected in Gian Rinaldo Carli 's Della Patria degli Italiani , written in 1764. It told how a stranger entered a café in Milan and puzzled its occupants by saying that he was neither a foreigner nor a Milanese. " 'Then what are you?' they asked. 'I am an Italian', he explained." The Habsburg rule in Italy came to an end with the campaigns of the French Revolutionaries in 1792–97 when
24178-427: Was required for almost any business activity, such as expanding a factory, merging a business, or to fire or lay off an employee. All wages were set by the government, and a minimum wage was imposed in Italy. Restrictions on labor increased. While corporations still could earn profits, Italian fascism supported criminalization of strikes by employees and lockouts by employers as illegal acts it deemed as prejudicial to
24335-453: Was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian Peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of Sardinia , resulting in the creation of the Kingdom of Italy . Inspired by the rebellions in the 1820s and 1830s against the outcome of the Congress of Vienna , the unification process was precipitated by the Revolutions of 1848 , and reached completion in 1871 after
24492-450: Was then excluded from the wartime secret Treaty of London (1915) it had concorded with the Triple Entente ; wherein Italy was to leave the Triple Alliance and join the enemy by declaring war against the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in exchange for territories at war's end, upon which the Kingdom of Italy held claims (see Italia irredenta ). In September 1919, the nationalist response of outraged war hero Gabriele D'Annunzio
24649-401: Was universally condemned, and the martyrdom of the Bandiera brothers bore fruit in the subsequent revolutions. In this context, in 1847, the first public performance of the song Il Canto degli Italiani , the Italian national anthem since 1946, took place. Il Canto degli Italiani , written by Goffredo Mameli set to music by Michele Novaro , is also known as the Inno di Mameli , after
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